Yes, she is none other than Anne Wong Holloway.
Singapore had a 'Queen of Speed' Mini Cooper racer in the 1970s
She was the first woman to win in the Macau Grand Prix.
The F1 Singapore Grand Prix night race is 10 years old.
But this past decade was not the first time Singapore has hosted races.
Female racer
In the 1960s and 1970s, racing in Singapore was a totally different affair though.
It was a largely casual thing where spectators could get as close as possible to the action, unlike the heavily-regulated, fenced up affair we see today.
Members of the public could also sign up to race in the "Novice" category.
One such racer was Anne Wong Holloway.
Dubbed by the public as the "Queen of Speed", Holloway was one of the few female drivers in the scene at that time who was at her prime.
Family of car enthusiasts
According to an interview, Holloway became interested in cars because her father and uncles were interested in them and "messed around with them a lot" at their estate in Cairnhill Circle.
The Straits Times also mentioned that Holloway's father, P.H Wong prepared cars for racing as a living.
Racing at Thomson area
When the Singapore Grand Prix started in 1961, Holloway would head to the back of Thomson Road with some racing enthusiasts to reserve seats to watch the race.
The racing scene was very close-knit and racers and spectators knew everyone else.
Here's a video of the 1966 Singapore Grand Prix: click watch.
Another video , just click.
Dangerous
Because of the narrow roads and lack of modern safety mechanisms, racing in the early Singapore Grand Prix was also also very dangerous -- so dangerous that it claimed seven lives in 11 years.
However, being the racing enthusiast that she is, Holloway decided to have a go at it.
During her first race, she drove her father's Hillman Imp while her friend used Holloway's father's Ford Escort.
This is what a Hillman Imp looks like:
This is a Ford Escort:
Definitely a far cry from a Ferrari, but it is precisely the amateurish nature of the early races that gave the Singapore Grand Prix a friendly atmosphere, perhaps even making it less daunting for potential racers to give it a go.
According to Holloway, her friend managed to "wrap the Escort around a lamp post" during a practice run.
Holloway's first race in 1970 was slightly disappointing too, as her car engine broke down. She did not finish that race.
However, that did not stop Holloway.
She went on to race in Malaysia and Macau, even going on to become the first woman to win the Macau Grand Prix in 1970.
Get inside the racer seat and see. Click
The Macau Grand Prix site has even listed under it's "Record-Setting Decade" of the 1970s the fact that Holloway won the 20-lap Touring Car Race in 1970 with her Mini Cooper S.
A short racing era.
Driving in a Mini Cooper had its challenges.
Holloway said in the same SG Magazine interview:
"Minis are quite small and I thought, “What if somebody pushes this car over?” It was a bit terrifying because after the race, the public would come in and everybody was curious who this person who won the race in a Mini. My father said to me, “You better get in the car quick”."
Being one of the rare female racers also didn't cause her much trouble because she knew most of the guys and was treated like a little sister.
Holloway stopped racing at the end of 1974 as it was a rather costly affair to keep up.
She subsequently went on to work in other areas such as public relations, advertising, and business development.
Clockwise from top left: Photos from Ribeiro’s albums, Sophia Floersch, Diana do Rosario, Tatiana Calderon, Anne Wong.
The Macau Grand Prix is known for being the longest-running motorsport event in Asia. Over the years we have become used to recalling the names of people that became famous after their participation in the Grand Prix (GP).
Names like Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher, who won Macau’s Formula 3 race before heading to Formula One, or even more recently the six-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton who also raced on the Guia Circuit, although he never won the event.
But, in a sport that is usually seen as male-dominated, the Macau Grand Prix has seen many women make their way into the sport, some of them successfully.
Maria Fernanda de Menezes Ribeiro, a.k.a. Maria “Speedy” Ribeiro, was born in Macau in 1924 and is known for being the first-ever woman to win a race in the Macau GP event.
It was in 1956, two years after the first Macau Grand Prix, that the organizers decided to include a race dedicated to female drivers.
Ribeiro was the first winner of the first racing event, in which only a handful of drivers participated.
In a FIAT 1100, Ribeiro took an unexpected win in a race against much more powerful engines, becoming famous for her fearless 100km/h turns.
Ribeiro was born Maria Fernanda Nolasco da Silva, inheriting the name de Menezes Ribeiro from her husband Fernando de Menezes Ribeiro.
Both families have a long tradition among the Macanese families that goes back to more than 250 years and over six generations.
The de Menezes Ribeiros and the Nolasco da Silvas were close family friends and neighbors, bound together both by friendship and interlinking marriages.
Although women have been a rarity, some have competed in other events such as the Guia race for touring cars as well as other support races.
Singapore’s Anne Wong was one of them, winning the touring car race in 1970 in a Mini.
Diana Poon, wife of Macau racing legend Albert Poon, raced alongside her husband in the 1976 Macau Grand Prix, becoming the first-ever couple to compete in the GP.
In 1980, South African Desiré Wilson raced in Macau’s Formula Libre, the race that paved the way for F3.
Wilson raced behind the wheel of a Ralt RT1 from Susie Racing, a sister team of Theodore Racing owned by Teddy Yip and named after his wife Susie Ho.
In that year, Wilson took the sixth position overall.
Three years later, French-woman Cathy Muller raced in the first F3 event in Macau.
Muller finished 12th in a Ralt RT3 alongside Ayrton Senna, who won in Macau that year.
Cathy, after a long career as a racer, kept connected to motorsports in both driving and team managerial positions, as well as through her sister, WTCR racer Yvan Muller.
She is also a member of the FIA’s Women in Motorsport Commission.
After a very long period of over 30 years without women participating in the “Queen” of Macau races, in 2014, the Colombian Tatiana Calderón broke that spell and participated in the Macau race in a Dallara-Mercedes from Mucke Motorsport, finishing 13th in a race won by Alex Lynn.
In 2018, Sophia Flörsch was the most recent addition to this list of female motorsport excellence, a legacy to continue this year with her return for the 2019 GP.
During this period, other female racers have joined the event, such as Macanese racer Diana do Rosário, who competed in Macau in the Macau GT Cup race between 2010 and 2012, achieving her best result in 2011 with 18th position overall, in a race won by Edoardo Mortara.
Singapore had a 'Queen of Speed' Mini Cooper racer in the 1970s
She was the first woman to win in the Macau Grand Prix.
The F1 Singapore Grand Prix night race is 10 years old.
But this past decade was not the first time Singapore has hosted races.
Female racer
In the 1960s and 1970s, racing in Singapore was a totally different affair though.
It was a largely casual thing where spectators could get as close as possible to the action, unlike the heavily-regulated, fenced up affair we see today.
Members of the public could also sign up to race in the "Novice" category.
One such racer was Anne Wong Holloway.
Dubbed by the public as the "Queen of Speed", Holloway was one of the few female drivers in the scene at that time who was at her prime.
Family of car enthusiasts
According to an interview, Holloway became interested in cars because her father and uncles were interested in them and "messed around with them a lot" at their estate in Cairnhill Circle.
The Straits Times also mentioned that Holloway's father, P.H Wong prepared cars for racing as a living.
Racing at Thomson area
When the Singapore Grand Prix started in 1961, Holloway would head to the back of Thomson Road with some racing enthusiasts to reserve seats to watch the race.
The racing scene was very close-knit and racers and spectators knew everyone else.
Here's a video of the 1966 Singapore Grand Prix: click watch.
Another video , just click.
Dangerous
Because of the narrow roads and lack of modern safety mechanisms, racing in the early Singapore Grand Prix was also also very dangerous -- so dangerous that it claimed seven lives in 11 years.
However, being the racing enthusiast that she is, Holloway decided to have a go at it.
During her first race, she drove her father's Hillman Imp while her friend used Holloway's father's Ford Escort.
This is what a Hillman Imp looks like:
This is a Ford Escort:
Definitely a far cry from a Ferrari, but it is precisely the amateurish nature of the early races that gave the Singapore Grand Prix a friendly atmosphere, perhaps even making it less daunting for potential racers to give it a go.
According to Holloway, her friend managed to "wrap the Escort around a lamp post" during a practice run.
Holloway's first race in 1970 was slightly disappointing too, as her car engine broke down. She did not finish that race.
However, that did not stop Holloway.
She went on to race in Malaysia and Macau, even going on to become the first woman to win the Macau Grand Prix in 1970.
Get inside the racer seat and see. Click
The Macau Grand Prix site has even listed under it's "Record-Setting Decade" of the 1970s the fact that Holloway won the 20-lap Touring Car Race in 1970 with her Mini Cooper S.
A short racing era.
Driving in a Mini Cooper had its challenges.
Holloway said in the same SG Magazine interview:
"Minis are quite small and I thought, “What if somebody pushes this car over?” It was a bit terrifying because after the race, the public would come in and everybody was curious who this person who won the race in a Mini. My father said to me, “You better get in the car quick”."
Being one of the rare female racers also didn't cause her much trouble because she knew most of the guys and was treated like a little sister.
Holloway stopped racing at the end of 1974 as it was a rather costly affair to keep up.
She subsequently went on to work in other areas such as public relations, advertising, and business development.
Clockwise from top left: Photos from Ribeiro’s albums, Sophia Floersch, Diana do Rosario, Tatiana Calderon, Anne Wong.
The Macau Grand Prix is known for being the longest-running motorsport event in Asia. Over the years we have become used to recalling the names of people that became famous after their participation in the Grand Prix (GP).
Names like Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher, who won Macau’s Formula 3 race before heading to Formula One, or even more recently the six-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton who also raced on the Guia Circuit, although he never won the event.
But, in a sport that is usually seen as male-dominated, the Macau Grand Prix has seen many women make their way into the sport, some of them successfully.
Maria Fernanda de Menezes Ribeiro, a.k.a. Maria “Speedy” Ribeiro, was born in Macau in 1924 and is known for being the first-ever woman to win a race in the Macau GP event.
It was in 1956, two years after the first Macau Grand Prix, that the organizers decided to include a race dedicated to female drivers.
Ribeiro was the first winner of the first racing event, in which only a handful of drivers participated.
In a FIAT 1100, Ribeiro took an unexpected win in a race against much more powerful engines, becoming famous for her fearless 100km/h turns.
Ribeiro was born Maria Fernanda Nolasco da Silva, inheriting the name de Menezes Ribeiro from her husband Fernando de Menezes Ribeiro.
Both families have a long tradition among the Macanese families that goes back to more than 250 years and over six generations.
The de Menezes Ribeiros and the Nolasco da Silvas were close family friends and neighbors, bound together both by friendship and interlinking marriages.
Although women have been a rarity, some have competed in other events such as the Guia race for touring cars as well as other support races.
Singapore’s Anne Wong was one of them, winning the touring car race in 1970 in a Mini.
Diana Poon, wife of Macau racing legend Albert Poon, raced alongside her husband in the 1976 Macau Grand Prix, becoming the first-ever couple to compete in the GP.
In 1980, South African Desiré Wilson raced in Macau’s Formula Libre, the race that paved the way for F3.
Wilson raced behind the wheel of a Ralt RT1 from Susie Racing, a sister team of Theodore Racing owned by Teddy Yip and named after his wife Susie Ho.
In that year, Wilson took the sixth position overall.
Three years later, French-woman Cathy Muller raced in the first F3 event in Macau.
Muller finished 12th in a Ralt RT3 alongside Ayrton Senna, who won in Macau that year.
Cathy, after a long career as a racer, kept connected to motorsports in both driving and team managerial positions, as well as through her sister, WTCR racer Yvan Muller.
She is also a member of the FIA’s Women in Motorsport Commission.
After a very long period of over 30 years without women participating in the “Queen” of Macau races, in 2014, the Colombian Tatiana Calderón broke that spell and participated in the Macau race in a Dallara-Mercedes from Mucke Motorsport, finishing 13th in a race won by Alex Lynn.
In 2018, Sophia Flörsch was the most recent addition to this list of female motorsport excellence, a legacy to continue this year with her return for the 2019 GP.
During this period, other female racers have joined the event, such as Macanese racer Diana do Rosário, who competed in Macau in the Macau GT Cup race between 2010 and 2012, achieving her best result in 2011 with 18th position overall, in a race won by Edoardo Mortara.
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